BOA continues court-ordered hearing

The Bradenton Beach Board of Adjustment last week continued a hearing on an administrative appeal of a certificate of occupancy due to inadequate notice of the meeting.

Last September, a judge ordered Bradenton Beach officials to take another look at property owner Ken Lohn’s complaints about a development at Fifth Street South and Bay Drive South.

Initially the BOA and the city commission had decided that Lohn failed to file a timely and complete administrative appeal on a certificate of occupancy for 109 Fifth St. S.

But in September 2008, a judge decided that Lohn’s appeal was sufficient to hold a hearing — and that’s the hearing that was supposed to take place March 11.

However, Lohn’s notice of the hearing was placed in the Gulf Coast Business Review, a weekly publication rather than a daily publication, and thus the BOA agreed that the notice was deficient.

The city’s land-development code states that a BOA hearing notice must appear in a daily newspaper of general circulation in the county at least 10 days prior to the hearing.

Lohn’s issues with 109 Fifth St. S., now owned by Synovus Bank, include allegations that improper construction created stormwater management problems, and that the building violates the city’s general design standards.

The BOA continued the meeting to 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 15, at city hall, 107 Gulf Drive N.

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